A/N: Alright, test time! The audio chapter went up a little late for this chapter because my computers decided that it was time to upgrade to Windows 11 right as I was going to upload the videos, and I'm sure many of you can understand the delay without any further context...

In any case, enjoy the new artwork that I've created for this chapter, with Yaoyorozu getting a much-needed upgrade to her hero outfit! Before anyone asks, yes, I definitely took some inspiration for the new design from Wonder Woman's armor.

Be expecting more digital art from here on out, because I was finally able to get my hands on an affordable tablet that's really going to let me step up my design game! Check out my Instagram if you want to look at some of my art that is no longer on this site, because it's going to be changing fairly frequently over the next few chapters (as in, for at least the next three chapters, I'll have new artwork ready).

Now that I've finished being excited about my new tablet (I'll never really be done), let's get back to the story!

Competitive Testing

"Who else is psyched for this?" Hagakure asked as she practically bounced on her toes while the rest of her classmates stepped off their bus. "We're gonna be semi-pros after today!" They had all just arrived at one of Japan's testing facilities for aspiring heroes to receive their provisional licenses, and the air was brimming with the anticipation of the gathered students.

"That's assuming we pass," Kurai pointed out, only to receive an elbow from his girlfriend. "What? We can try, but that's not gonna make our dreams come true automatically."

"I keep telling you, optimism doesn't hurt," Mina reminded him. "C'mon, we got this! We're UA students, and we've already got plenty of experience in dealing with villains! Right, Mister Aizawa?"

The teacher eyed them all quietly for a moment before saying, "Ashido isn't wrong, but don't assume that you've got the advantage just yet. Remember, most of the students here will have more education than you, and their quirks are strong. That being said, I still expect you all to pass, regardless of the circumstances. So don't say you'll try- say you will, got it?"

"Yes, sir," Kurai and several of the other students answered.

"He's right, you guys!" Kirishima declared, catching the attention of his comrades. "Let's sound off the usual, okay? Plus-!"

"ULTRA!"

Everyone's attention was taken away from the redhead by a very tall student dressed in a sharp uniform with a black hat, whose voice was powerful enough to compete with Present Mic, and deep enough to remind them of Cementoss. He had a huge smile on his face, and he absolutely radiated positive energy as he stood amid the UA students, many of whom were uncertain of what to make of him.

"Inasa," said another student from behind the tall boy, he being dressed in an identical fashion, save for the fact that he was a lot smaller than his peer. "It's rude to butt in on another class' pep talk."

"Oh!" exclaimed the exuberant student. "I am so! Very! Extremely! SORRY!" As he spoke, he performed a bow so deep that he slammed his head into the ground, all while keeping that excited smile on his face.

"Okay, who is this guy?" Kaminari asked of no one in particular. "I do not trust his enthusiasm!"

"Hey, check out the uniforms on these guys," Jiro murmured as the class noticed a handful of other students dressed like the newcomers grouping up behind them.

"What's the big deal?" Blake asked the earphone jack girl.

"They're from a fancy school on the other side of the country," she answered.

"Out of all the hero courses in Japan, only theirs' rivals UA," Midoriya said in an aside to the American girls. "They're called Shiketsu High."

Strangely, it was Bakugo who finished their collective thoughts. "Shiketsu in the west, UA in the east," he muttered as he sized up the other students.

As the first Shiketsu student straightened himself, blood began to spill down his scalp as he declared, "I just wanted to say it once! Plus Ultra! See, I really love UA! I'm really looking forward to competing against you guys!" His classmates more or less ignored this and moved past him, not giving the students of UA a second glance.

"Inasa Yoarashi." As the tall student walked away with his friends, the children from UA were surprised to hear him identified by their homeroom teacher. They were even more surprised to hear him say, "He's strong."

"Come again?" Kurai asked. "You know that guy?"

"Of course," Aizawa nodded. "He received the top scores for students admitted to the hero course at UA through recommendations. But for some unknown reason, he turned down his acceptance and chose to go to Shiketsu instead."

Kurai's gaze snapped back over to watch the tall boy as he started walking up the steps that led into a giant coliseum where the provisional test would be held. Who in their right mind turns down an acceptance to UA? Then again, I've been called crazy for turning down the opportunity to get in on recommendations. To each their own?

It still didn't make sense to him- if the guy loved UA that much, what happened that made him choose a different school?

"If that guy was number one in the recommendations test, that means he's stronger than Todoroki," Uraraka murmured to her friends, causing them all to glance at the passive boy, whose face showed no reaction to the presence of Yoarashi whatsoever.

"Maybe, but I doubt he's stronger than this guy," Mina grinned as she hugged Kurai's remaining natural arm. Ever since his surgery, she had begun a habit of only grabbing onto him from his left side, though he had yet to ask her why that was.

"I imagine we'll find out shortly," the boy shrugged nonchalantly as he set the thoughts aside, though he couldn't help but be a little curious about how he and this newcomer would measure up to each other.

"Be on your guard with him," Aizawa said in a low tone. "He's the real deal." This got Kurai really curious. Their teacher never repeated himself for anything, so if he was stressing this guy's strength, he had to be something special.

"Eraser?!" an unfamiliar voice called out, though for some reason, it caused Aizawa to look like a naughty child had just been found out by his parents after he did something wrong. "I'd recognize that scowl anywhere!"

The woman approaching had green hair and a wacky-looking costume themed black and orange, plus a cheerful smile that she had directed at the UA teacher. "I saw you at the Sport's Festival and on TV a couple times, but it's been ages since we've been this close in person!"

Now Aizawa looked like he wanted to either hide or throw up, possibly both. Never before had the students seen their teacher this rattled, not even when he took on the Nomu that nearly killed Kurai and All Might. Who's this lady? Kurai wondered.

"Let's get married."

"No."

The short exchange between the two heroes got the attention of Mina's romantic heart, so she looked on with rapt attention while Kurai did his best not to burst out laughing like the woman did at that moment. He now knew that he was going to enjoy every second of this, but only if he didn't make a show of his interest- as uncomfortable as Eraserhead looked, he had no doubt that there would be punishments involved for anyone that pried too closely.

"You're a real riot, buddy!" the woman continued to laugh.

"And as usual, you're impossible, Joke," Aizawa shot back.

"Oh, I know her!" Midoriya exclaimed, much to the surprise of absolutely no one. "Ms. Joke's quirk is Outburst, which causes the people around her to laugh uncontrollably! She uses this on villains to incapacitate them before knocking them out, which makes all of her fights insane!"

That explains the knuckledusters, Kurai thought as he glanced at the woman's thick gloves. They had seemed rather out of line with her jubilant personality, so he had wondered at their presence.

"Come on, think about it!" Joke was still apparently determined to needle Eraserhead. "If I was your wife, you'd have a future full of constant laughter!"

"That sounds like an actual nightmare."

"Hahaha!"

"I feel like this would be you and me in twenty years if I hadn't gotten you all to myself when I did," Mina said in an aside to Kurai, who nodded slowly.

"You're probably right," he admitted.

"You two seem like you've known each other for a while," Asui commented while Joke finished up her laughing fit.

"Our agencies were located near each other a while back," the pro heroine explained with a friendly smile aimed at the students. "As two young heroes trying to make a difference in the world, a mutual romance bloomed into-"

"No, it didn't!"

"I do miss your quick retorts!" Joke giggled. "You're my favorite person to tease, future hubby!"

Aizawa, having apparently had enough of her antics, decided to try and steer the conversation toward something that he could actually stomach. "So if you're here, Joke…"

"Yep!" the woman headed him off as she indicated a group of students behind her. "Those are my kids! Meet the second-years of Ketsubutsu Academy!"

Immediately the older students' eyes widened and they redoubled their pace as they moved to get a better look at the UA kids. "Whoa, it really is them!" said a tall boy with black hair that reminded Kurai of Izuku's mop. He quickly moved past his teacher to shake hands with Midoriya and say, "It's so cool to meet you guys! I'm Shindo, and I'm a big fan of what you guys have accomplished! You've had it rough, but you've definitely managed to come out on top of some crazy stuff!"

"Oh, uh… thanks?" the green-haired boy replied, uncertain of how to handle the friendly greeting.

Quickly Shindo moved to give the same greeting to Kaminari, and then Jiro, all while saying, "Despite all of those hardships, you're still aiming to become pro heroes! You've got hearts full of fortitude- something that every hero should have these days! I really admire that drive, and I look forward to learning from it!"

"He's too nice!" Midoriya said in an aside to Kurai, who was wearing a strangely neutral expression.

"Yeah," the taller boy muttered. "Too nice." His instinct, the one that always warned him of people entering his atmosphere with ulterior motives, was going off like crazy. Normally it was present with people that had ties to the media, but every once in a while, it would alert him to the presence of another kind of intruder. What's this guy doing?

"Oh, cool!" The sophomore then moved on to stand in front of team RWBY, although Ruby herself was too distracted by all the students walking around them to notice his approach. "We'd heard that there might be some students from overseas taking the exam, but I had no idea they'd be with UA!"

"Down boy," Yang said with a friendly smile. "I'm all for mixing business and pleasure, but let's remember that we're here to compete against each other. If you wanna swap numbers after this is all over with, I'd be more than happy to meet back here before we leave."

"Yang!" Weiss said disapprovingly as Shindo laughed heartily.

"She could do worse," Blake said to Yaoyorozu, who stifled a giggle.

"Oh man, you two!" Shindo suddenly exclaimed, looking at Kurai and Bakugo- who had intended to shoulder his way past the other students, but was now stopped by the Ketsubutsu sophomore. "You've had it even tougher than the others, what with that whole kidnapping incident and getting hurt by that crazy Moonfish guy, but you're still going!" He reached out a hand to Bakugo as he said, "I hope you don't mind me learning from you guys today."

Kurai's eyebrows drew together as he clenched his metal fist, even as Bakugo smacked the other boy's hand away, much to his surprise. "Stop pretending," he growled. "What you say doesn't match the look in your eyes."

For less than a second, Kurai saw it- Shindo's gaze turned into one of cold scrutiny before it was quickly covered up by another warm smile. The fact that Kirishima was now telling his friend off for being rude also helped to conceal the split-second break in his façade.

As some of the other students from Ketsubutsu began to clamor around the UA freshman, Kurai subtly held out a hand to keep his closer friends from interacting with them. When they looked a question at him, he said in a lowered tone, "Trust me, they aren't here to make friends."

"Hey, stop wasting time," Aizawa called over, much to Kurai's relief. "Get in your hero gear and head to orientation. They'll be starting soon."

As the students began to disperse, Todoroki asked in a lowered voice, "Since when do you and Bakugo agree on anything?"

"Had to happen at some point," Kurai shrugged. "He was right- something's off with that Shindo guy. And I'd be willing to bet my other arm that he's not the only one here today trying to get a closer look at the competition."

"Dude!" Mina whacked him on his shoulder, causing him to laugh.

"You sure are suspicious of newcomers, huh, Hikari?" Uraraka asked as she and Midoriya gripped one another's hands, seemingly unconscious about the movement.

"Dad always told me that stranger danger doesn't stop when you get out of grade school," he answered. "If your gut tells you something is off, trust it. Also, you're making Midoriya float."

"Whoa!"

"Ack! Release, release!"

Once the class had gotten changed into their hero gear, they headed into the assembly area, where more than a thousand students were crammed in together in front of a dais and a giant screen. "I knew that the exams garnered a large crowd, but not this many," Kurai commented to his friends.

"How do you know that?" Todoroki asked him.

"Dad used to oversee some of these back in the day," his peer answered. "The police are heavily involved in designing the tests that determine whether or not people can become heroes, seeing as they are still the primary law enforcers, whether or not people still realize it. He took me and Akarui along to watch on a couple of them when we were little, but it's been a while. Besides, it's like Mister Aizawa said, they change the test up every year."

"I wonder what they've got in store for us this year," Midoriya mumbled, his brain clearly already going into overdrive as he considered the possibility of what they could be faced with.

"Okay, let's get this test thing started…" They were all quieted as a sleepy-sounding voice echoed from a mic system that seemed to come from a speaker on the dais, though none of the UA students could see who it was clearly from their vantage point in the room.

Over the next few minutes, the man gave some sort of garbled explanation about how he had been incredibly overworked so that this test could even happen, which meant that they would have to bear with him while he did their orientation. This didn't surprise Kurai in the least- at his father's funeral, he had heard several officers and bureaucrats talking in lowered tones about how his death and All Might's retirement were forcing them to make changes that some would view as drastic, which would undoubtedly require a lot of paperwork for a police force that was still scrambling to catch up with the damage that All For One had caused. With that in mind, it was no wonder that someone like this man would be so exhausted.

The young hero in training was snapped out of his musings as the overseer informed them that there would be over 1500 students participating in a free-for-all competition that day- some kind of battle royal, from what they could glean out of his mumblings. He then went on to tell them that because of the influences of Stain, the infamous Hero Killer, people at large were now questioning the motivations of many established heroes, and that the committee in charge of training the next generation had taken notice. In light of that, they planned to drastically raise the stakes needed to qualify as even a semi-pro.

The general message struck Kurai as something that they probably said every year, just with different words each time, but he couldn't even pretend to be okay with them using the man that had crippled Tensei and killed many others to justify their reasoning this year. He clenched his teeth and his metal fist, but before he could get too worked up, he felt Iida's hand on his shoulder. Turning to look up at his friend, he was surprised to see him shake his head ever so slightly while maintaining his gaze on the overseer.

Confused but willing to keep his cool for the other boy's sake, he resolved to ask him about it later. Whatever the case, he's certainly grown up in the last few months, if he can stand to hear them talk about Stain as if his actions were even sort of justifiable.

"Oh, and only the first hundred students to meet the passing requirements for the test will be allowed to move on to the second round," the overseer announced.

"First hundred?!" Kurai couldn't help but yelp, and he wasn't the only one voicing their surprise and/or distress.

"There are well over a thousand students here," Yaoyorozu said, looking as worried as he felt. "I thought that they said that about half of us would pass." Her costume had changed drastically after she had followed Kurai's advice in regards to its design flaws. Although the main theme was still red, she now wore an armored crop top that left her midriff completely bared and pair of short shorts that matched her combat boots. On her wrist was a computerized gauntlet that contained data on just about every element and compound known to man. She could voice-activate it or type in a search parameter, thanks to the program that Akarui had written for her over the weekend after his brother had sent him an email request.

Still, new gear on its own was not going to pass this test, and they all knew it.

"That means there's less than a ten percent pass rate," Asui gulped.

"Oh man, this is getting to be too much!" Jiro said as she hugged herself with a shiver.

"Yeah, life can be pretty crappy," the overseer mumbled amid the worried chatter, quieting the assembled students/competitors. He then went on to explain the rules of the first round. Each student would be required to put three high-tech targets on any exposed part of their body, and the goal in regards to those targets was twofold. Each student would be given six balls, and in order to pass to the next round, they had to take out two other students by hitting all three targets, though they only had to hit the third target on an enemy in order for it to count. After that, they would be required to exit the field, as to avoid interfering with the other applicants.

"This is harsh stuff," Ruby said to Izuku. "The American provisional test was nothing like this. All we had to do was demonstrate competent rescue and first aid skills. Our schools don't even let us take the test if our combat skills aren't up to certain standards."

"Doesn't matter," Yang grinned confidently as she popped her knuckles. "We've been through worse than a little scrap with other students. We got this."

"Yeah, what she said!" Mina agreed as she gave the other girl a high-five.

"As seldom as it happens, I agree with Yang," Weiss declared. "We'll be fine."

As the examiners began to pass out the targets to the students, the head overseer said, "After we open up, you'll have a few minutes to get situated."

"Open up?" Midoriya repeated as the building began to rumble, and the ceiling opened up to admit sunlight at the same time as the walls fell away. This revealed them to be in the midst of a setup that reminded the UA students of their school's USJ facility- only this place was much, much larger in scale. There was a city zone, a mountain terrain, open plains, so on and so forth.

"Seriously, where do these people get the money for these kinds of things?!" Sero demanded of no one in particular.

"That's what you're worried about?!" Kaminari yelped as he nearly lost his footing.

"Choose terrains that work well with your quirk, and… do your best," the overseer mumbled as the walls finished their descent to the ground.

Once everyone had been fitted with their targets, the varying classes were each directed to a different starting point. In UA's case, that happened to be near the base of the mountain zone.

"Plan time," Kurai said as they all examined their surroundings. "Midoriya, you're the analyst. What do you think is gonna happen?" Kurai already had an idea himself, but he wanted to see if his friend's thoughts lined up with his own.

"We pass this test by taking out other people, but trying to do that solo is gonna be next to impossible," he muttered quickly. "It's natural for people to group up, which means that this is probably gonna be a class-versus-class battle. It only makes sense to team up with people whose quirks you already know."

"Screw that noise!" Bakugo snapped as he walked away. "This isn't a field trip!"

"Idiot!" Kirishima grumbled as he and Kaminari took off after him.

"Yeah, I was afraid of that," Kurai muttered as he readied his powers for the first hint of trouble.

"What do you mean?" Todoroki asked him.

"Think about it," his friend urged him. "It makes sense in a situation like this to work with as much intelligence as possible- meaning not only should people work with those that they are familiar with, they should also target them as well."

"Out of all the schools in Japan, ours' is the only one that showcases its students publicly on a regular basis," Midoriya elaborated.

"The Sport's Festival," Blake realized aloud. "The whole world has seen your guys' quirks already, so they have an idea of what to expect from you."

"Which means that we're all gonna have giant bull's-eyes on our backs," Kurai finished dryly. "Yay, us."

"On the other hand, that just brings targets right to us," Ruby pointed out. "If we can ride out the first couple of waves and strike back with good timing, we can pass the test before anyone knows what hit them."

"I agree," Weiss nodded.

Kurai, Iida, Yaoyorozu, and Midoriya all exchanged a glance at this. After a few seconds, the class rep nodded and said, "It's a good idea, given the circumstances. Let's find a defendable position as soon as possible and wait for what's to undoubtedly come our way."

"Sorry, but you'll have to count me out," Todoroki announced, surprising his friends as he started to jog in the direction opposite to Bakugo. "It's hard for me to use my powers safely when there are other people around."

"So much for sticking together," Blake commented as the siren began to sound across the field.

"We'll just have to hope that they know what they're doing," Kurai muttered as he, Iida, and Midoriya led the charge toward what looked like a good place to set up an ambush in the mountain region. "For now, keep your guards up, and those target balls handy. No telling when- oh, crap!"

The others barely had time to register his shout of surprise before they realized that they were already surrounded on all sides by the dozens, making it over a hundred students ready to hurl their ammunition at the freshmen. Leading the charge was Ketsubutsu's Shindo, who was now wearing a much more sinister smile than the one he had greeted them with earlier.

"I saw you on TV!" he told them as he drew back his hand to aim at Midoriya. "That power of yours' destroys your body if you're backed into a corner, right? Can't say I'm above taking advantage of that!" With those words, he and every other student in the vicinity let loose with their target balls, surrounding UA in a veritable storm of projectiles.

"Like I said, stranger danger!" Kurai shouted before he and the other long-range fighters sprang into action to protect their classmates. Letting out a raw-throated yell, he unleashed a barrage of energon blasts at the balls coming closest to him, causing many of them to be vaporized on contact.

Sero intercepted a lot of the incoming attacks with his tape while Midoriya leaped up in front of the group, drawing his leg back for a mighty kick that connected solidly with one ball, but generated enough high-speed winds to scatter the remainders that were headed for his peers from the front. One of the new features on his costume were metal soles that pretty much doubled the impact of his kicks, plus armored gauntlets for his hands that also doubled as bracers for his arms.

Yang took point on the rear of the group, her gauntlets spitting out grenade after grenade with startling precision to blast more of the balls to smithereens. Mina's acid dissolved the ones that Kurai missed, and Tokoyami's Dark Shadow covered for any lapses in Sero's defense while the more evasive students like Iida and Uraraka used their quirks to dodge the outliers and draw attention away from their friends.

The initial threat having been dealt with, Kurai drew his sword and smiled back at Shindo, who looked just a bit unsettled that their ambush had been so thoroughly foiled- not one target on the UA students had been struck in the barrage. "Let's try this again," the younger boy said confidently, a ball in his metal hand.

Snapping his arm forward faster than the eye can follow, Kurai's aim proved true enough to drive the ball home into the target on Shindo's chest hard enough to send him falling over backwards, off the ledge he had perched on, and gasping for air on the way down. Another stray ball hurtled toward Kurai, and he whirled his sword with practiced ease to slash the projectile in half before it could even touch him.

As he found himself back-to-back-to-back with his girlfriend and Midoriya, he heard the green haired student encourage the others by yelling, "We got this, you guys! We can win! Let's show them what UA can do!"

"Yeah!"

As the others rallied behind their friend, Kurai took a moment to smile to himself. The Midoriya from the beginning of the year would hardly recognize you, pal, he thought as he felt a surge of pride for how far his friend had come. You're gonna do All Might proud, buddy.

Mataras: Not a lot different about this chapter, but you guys should be familiar enough with my style by now to know that I haven't just rehashed this for the hell of it.

Kai: The seeds for change have been planted, yeah, we get it.

Deku: The smallest difference can have a huge impact later on down the line. For example, my arms haven't been nearly as injured as they were in the original story, and I've learned more about fighting and adjusting my costume to compliment those new strengths.

Kai: I was thinking more along the lines of how my presence has made it so that more people know about One For All in class 1-A than just you, All Might, and Bakugo. Akarui even knows!

Deku: That, and I've gotten a lot closer with Uraraka in this version.

Mataras: We don't need to recap the whole story up to now, gentlemen.

Deku: Right, sorry!

Kai: Why not? We don't have anything better to do right now.

Mataras: Yeah, we also don't want to make this segment boring! If we've got no more content, let's just get on to the preview, yeah?

Deku: Next time- Instinct

Kai: Why do I get the feeling that I'm in for a rough time next chapter...?

Mataras: You could say that your instincts are-

Kai: Don't even finish that sentence!

Deku: Everyone in Class 1-A will have to Go Beyond!

Mataras: Plus Ultra!

Next time on Your Hero Academia: Unveiling...

"Well, that sucked," Mina groaned as she melted a rock that was nearly pinning her to the ground. "You okay, Koda?"

"I think so…" the quiet student answered as he rubbed his head. "What about you?"

"Wrist is sprained, but I'll live," she answered through a grimace.

"I'm fine, by the way." The two classmates turned to see Yang heaving a boulder twice her size off of her with a chipper smile. "You guys have any idea of where the others might've gone?"

"That creep from Ketsubutsu tore up the ground right in the middle of our group," Mina answered with a negative shake of her head. "If he was aiming to split us up, he succeeded." As far as she could tell, they were the only allies that they had in the immediate vicinity.

"So what do we do now?" the blonde inquired. "Ruby usually makes the plan, so I'm kinda lost on what we should do."

"Yeah, and Kurai's way smarter than me, so I trusted him to make the game plan, which, in hindsight, was a lazy mistake," Mina agreed. The two girls turned to look at Koda, who shied away from their hopeful gazes. "Whaddya say, Koda? Got any ideas?"

When he shook his head rapidly in the negative, Yang shrugged and said, "Well, I guess we'll stick with the basics- stay together, don't get knocked out, and score enough points to go to the next round."